1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a thermal cycler.
2. Related Art
In recent years, due to the development of a technique using genes, medical treatments using gene technology such as genetic diagnosis and gene therapy have received attention. Additionally, many methods using genes for species identification and breed improvements in the agriculture and stockbreeding field have been developed. As a technique for using genes, a technique such a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method or the like has been widely supplied. Presently, the PCR method is a technique essential to elucidation of information of biological materials.
The PCR method is a method of performing thermal cycling on a solution (reaction liquid) containing a nucleic acid as an amplification object (target nucleic acid) and a reagent to amplify a target nucleic acid. The thermal cycling is a treatment in which the reaction liquid is periodically subjected to two or more levels of temperatures. In the PCR method, a method of performing two stages or three stages of thermal cycling is common.
In the PCR method, generally, a container for a biochemical reaction, called a tube or a biological sample reaction chip (biochip) is used. However, in the method according to the related art, there are problems in that the amount of reagents needed and the like is large, an apparatus for realizing thermal cycling needed for the reaction is complex, and thus the reaction takes time. Therefore, a biochip or a reaction apparatus for performing PCR with good accuracy using a minute amount of reagent or analyte for a short time is needed.
In order to solve the problems, in JP-A-2009-136250, a biological sample reaction apparatus is disclosed in which a biological sample reaction chip filled with a reaction liquid and a liquid which is not blended with the reaction liquid and has a smaller specific gravity than the reaction liquid is rotated around a rotating shaft in a horizontal direction to move the reaction liquid and perform thermal cycling thereon.
In the biological sample reaction apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2009-136250, since the biological sample reaction chip is mounted on the apparatus having a temperature distribution that is symmetrical with respect to the rotating shaft to be rotated, in order to perform reactions having the same time conditions at the same timing using a plurality of reaction containers, mounting units for the reaction containers can be provided only in a direction along the rotating shaft (depth direction), and thus there is a limitation to a reduction in the size of the apparatus.